25 January 2018

Danish government forcing civil servants to relocate

Denmark's liberal-conservative government has honoured an election pledge and is moving several state institutions out of the Copenhagen area. Around 1,500 civil servants are affected, some of whom have voiced fierce protest over the move. Does the relocation really make sense?

Just a drop in the ocean

With its plans for relocating jobs the state won't be able to repair the damage it once did to the Danish provinces, Weekendavisen rails:

“There is no reason to praise the government for a successful attempt at bringing lopsided Denmark back into balance. Because with the major structural reform ten years ago the selfsame parties dealt provincial Denmark the biggest blow in its history. ... Good that the government is now doing something, even if it's sometimes difficult to see the point behind many decisions to relocate public jobs. ... But in any event this is no more than a small plaster on a big wound which the parties themselves inflicted on Denmark's provincial cities.”

Denmark needs more inner cohesion

The regional paper Jydske Vestkysten makes fun of the complaints of public sector employees facing transferral to the provinces:

“[Out here in the countryside] we head to the harbour every evening on our mopeds, get drunk on smuggled liquor and beat each other up with raw codfish. ... No, that's not the reality of life here. Denmark looks much the same everywhere you go. So the prejudices of the 'transferral victims' are almost laughable. ... But this shows how sensible the government's plans actually are. They're not just about creating more balance in Denmark when it comes to government jobs. The other, and almost more important, goal is to address the lack of national cohesion which clearly exists between the capital and the rest of the country.”